Icy Skies
by Shinoru Aki Ameagari
Summary: An ancient prophecy throws two unlikely people together. Sounds routine enough, until an important event is altered and the fabric of time begins to unravel. throw in a futuristic miko driven insane with dreams of what should have been, and...
1. Heartblood

Icy Skies   
Chapter 1: Heartblood 

"_And look at me! Eating breakfast with the boogey-man!"_

_A few seconds later she added, "Who doesn't seem to be finding this even half as terribly funny as I am…"_

**Sango**

Summary: There was nothing left for her, but she was rescued. And now she finds herself in a strange court where tradition is followed so exactly that it's hard to tell that it isn't believed, where the people harbor regrets and sorrows, secrets and promises, the past and the future. And so she will also find the cold lord of this well ordered chaos.

A gentle breeze blew moaning through the trees surrounding the mansion, adding an air of mystery to the bright, sunny day. The silence was overwhelming. Usually a forest is full of noise, life. But no bird spoke in the gorgeous green old growth area surrounding the ancient palace. The inhabitants of the old growth turned away instinctively from the place where all life ceased in the great, swirling purple barrier. The mansion was well protected, allowing no one in, and no one out. The animals were smart enough to stay away. A small band of the best demon slayers, however, had not been.

The boomerang whistled through the air, causing the young huntress to smile at the accuracy of her weapon. She smiled a lot, always cheerful and optimistic. She turned, catching the returning weapon without thought and sending it at another leg of the great spider. She laughed at the tense expression on her brother's face as he sent his weapon, a curved blade at the end of a chain, hurtling of into space and landing with a satisfying if grotesque thud in the flesh of the spider. He smiled at her in askance, and she returned his look with a wink, reassuring. She turned her eyes from Kohaku as his weapon brought the spider down. She caught her returning boomerang with a swift gesture that sent it with beautiful aim towards the head of the spider. It was an exhilarating moment as the weapon hit home and cut off the spider's head in a swift, clean strike.

It was easy. Way too easy to be true, but in the triumph of the moment Sango didn't notice. She was stupid in her joy. Later, she would learn to be smarter, less trusting. In just a few moments, any joy she had ever had would be shattered. But the naive young woman chatting with her father didn't notice. Not until her father was dead by her brother's weapon, and the victorious group erupted into fear and chaos. Her horror was even greater than that of the others. This was her brother! His curved blade rushed through the air, making a soulful noise that accented that of the trees.

"That was our father you killed! Our father!" She tried hopelessly to argue with him, to show him sense. But even as she spoke she could tell how useless it was. His eyes were glazed over with the look of one possessed of a demon. She could cure him, she thought hopelessly. If only she could get him home it would all be okay… but it was impossible. She would not get him home safely, and in her heart she already knew the fate of her village. When she finally felt the inevitable pain of his blade in her back, it came as no surprise. She would die at her brother's hand, and that's all there was to it. Die, or kill him, and harm him was the one thing she could never do. Given the choice to die or hurt him even slightly, it was no choice at all. She had been dead from the second her father's Heartblood flowed free on the ground.

White hair flew in the wind, was the wind as the regal lord of the western lands strode purposefully forward in an even stride, its evenness betraying its remarkable speed. Though the pace showed a certain rhythm of one who has been walking at that speed for a long time and could continue it for a long time more, measured he was traveling at at least 20 or so miles and hour, though he knew nothing of such measurements. All that concerned the demon lord was reaching his destination, and doing so as quickly as possible, though his dignity would not allow him to run. Even Ah-un was too slow for this journey. Just a few hours ago he had learned of the human woman who was prophesied to unite the four lands and become his life companion, and though he scoffed at the idea of a human doing so much, when he learned that he must rescue her he was wise enough to trust the prophecies and hurry. He encountered a strong aversion to turn away as he entered the ancient grove, but a demon lord need not heed such warnings, for he understood at once that the feeling were caused by a barrier set in place, a barrier that was quite powerful indeed.

His cool features dare not betray the disappointment he felt on approaching the battlefield. The danger she was in wasn't a demon, powerful or not. A demon lay dead on the ground, probably only a minion, for it had not been powerful enough to erect the barrier he still sensed. The danger she was in was only a human boy, armored in demon skin and bone. He carried a weapon, and similarly armored humans lay dead on the ground, some of which had a strong family smell to him. To think of it, so did the woman he had come to rescue. He had located her at once by the strong air of destiny about her, and she was strong with the smell of blood and tears. He took a second glance at the boy who had caused such pain and death. He was only a boy. Not a demon, or a corrupt soul… not an ogre in disguise… he was her little brother. Her little brother hurtling his weapon at her, hitting her in the back, eyes glazed over. Eyes glazed over… Sesshoumaru looked closer at the boy facing him and saw in him the unmistakable mark that he should have noticed earlier. He was possessed. He sighed in sorrow and picked her up, putting her over his shoulder in an easy manner. His pure white kimono was stained with blood, ruining the purity and cleanliness that had pervaded his image. Even his silvery hair was stained with her blood, but he seemed not to care. Returning to his easy pace, he walked away from the palace.

Sango blinked, pulling herself out of her dream-state and firmly into reality. It was mid-morning already, she could tell this quite easily. The smell was different than the crisp clean early scent that she so often experienced upon waking. The birds had lost their early morning exuberance and had settled down to a quiet, industrial chirping. Flowers bloomed outside her window, which was wide open, carrying the scents of a garden on the breeze. A man sat in a chair beside her bed. He wore a pure white kimono fastened in a casual manner about his waist. His hair was silver, hanging to mid-back in a loose braid tied back with a blood red ribbon. She realized that she was also dressed in a casual summer kimono, though hers was a pale shade of blue with a red obi. Her hair had been untied from the high ponytail it had been in, and the blood washed off with scented oils. She attempted to pull herself up, and found that her wounds were still fresh. She fell back with a cry, settling into the thick futon mattress and downy pillows, her wounds still smarting. She peeked under her kimono and saw that they had been cleaned and tended, and were spread with a strange smelling ointment. She glanced at the man again, only then noticing the golden eyes that bored straight into her soul. He was a demon! She was the captive of a demon, and completely immobilized by her injuries! She quickly masked her fear and focused on her anger. She would rather die here of her injuries, fighting, and then be murdered in her sleep. The demon did not move, so neither did she, as she plotted a course of action.

He smelled the anger welling up in her as the fear was quickly hidden. She was good. A lesser demon might have missed the fear, but not lord Sesshoumaru. He smiled inside, letting a slight smirk rise to his face. "I don't plan to hurt you, my lady."

She grimaced, attempting once again to rise out of the bed. "Then why have you brought me here, demon?" her face dripped sweat and her wounds began to re open, staining the bandages in blood.

Sesshoumaru looked as calm and cool as ever. "Please, call me Sesshoumaru. I tend to prefer that to demon and the like. And I brought you here because of a prophecy. But the prophecy did not tell me of your name, so I must ask that favor of you."

Sango grinned, if a little ironically. "Left out such an important detail, eh? Well, prophecies are like that… anyway, if you don't already have it, why should I give you my name?"

"Because I saved you, of course. Don't be ungrateful, I deserve at least your name for rescuing you and treating all of your injuries personally." He replied without a pause. This was almost fun, this sparring of words.

"And why would the demon lord of the western lands do such favors for a mere human?"

His smirk faded. "Well, my lady. It does seem to be that you know more about me than I do about you."

Sango's smile widen imperceptibly. She had surprised him, and she knew it. He could still kill her with one swipe of his claws, but she had won a small victory. As long as she could keep him interested in their little game, she would not die. But this advantage could only last so long. Not long enough to heal, or even sleep. She would have to do battle with her wounds just exactly as they were, or trust him, a demon, not to kill her yet. Her smile faded at her options, but she did not give up. "Of course I know you, Sesshoumaru-sama. To be a demon of such high rank, you are well known in the villages of the demon hunters. Yes, demon hunters. I kill your kind, and you kill mine. So tell me again, Sesshoumaru-sama, what reason do you have not to kill me now?"

His smile returned. A demon huntress? How like a prophecy. Always send two unlikely people together, and if they don't kill each other then they can save the world… "You are destined to unite the four lands and end the demon wars. Though I wish not to believe that a mere human has such a destiny, it is unwise to ignore what is written in the ancient western books of destiny, the _Ashulate Mikaru_. I dare not kill the savior, even if I do not believe in her power."

So she was to be a savior? Sango hid her widening grin. If this was true, if he truly thought this, then she could recover all she wanted and then kill the religious fool. But there was no need to trust him yet, no reason to be foolish. Demons love to toy, to play with their victims' minds and then kill them slowly, letting the betrayal sink in. But what could she do? She readily admitted that she couldn't get up. No chance of fighting in this condition. The realization hit her like a ton of bricks, though it had been idling quietly by in the back of her mind for the entire duration of the conversation since she had woken so calmly that morning to find a demon by her bed. She had no power. She would have to trust her greatest enemy. "I can't sit up. I can't hurt you. I am completely at your mercy, and you may very well be playing with my mind. But though I am no fool, I seem to have no alternative but to trust you."

He smiled, knowing that he had been the winner the whole time, but still it was gratifying to hear it. The girl was right, though, she was no fool. She knew that she had no choice but to trust him… He heard a loud hunger sound coming from her stomach. Though she did not know it, she had been asleep for several days, and her body had been working hard to heal her injuries and the fever she had caught when her immune system was down. She must be starving by now. "Then, my lady, shall I have breakfast sent up?"

She looked immensely grateful, and somehow this pleased Sesshoumaru. "Yes, please. Some food would be nice, hold the poison." She smiled. "And If I am to stay her for a while, then you might as well know what to call me. I'm Sango."

"Coral" He smiled. "A beautiful name."

It took only a few minutes for breakfast to appear in their room, brought up by a teenage kitsune wearing a black yukata with a carefully stitched tail hole. He grinned at Sango before departing, leaving the huge, steaming tray on a small table. The table was made of some pale blue stone, artfully carved with scenes of battle so realistically depicted that Sango both hated and admired it the second she had seen it. But her attention was now directed to the tray sitting atop this gruesome piece of furniture. The meal was simple, really, but of such high quality and huge quantities that her mouth just simply could not help watering. There were towering carved wooden bowls of fruit, filled far past the brim with berries of all colors, slices of peach almost falling apart they were so ripe, cherries almost black with pure red shining through, watermelon completely de-seeded, pear slices squeezed with lemon juice to keep them from turning brown… and at the top of this all a small branch of flowering cherry, the delicate pinks completing the bowl with a touch of showiness. Next to the fruit bowl was a plate of steaming rice balls, the rice cooked inhumanly evenly, filled with a paste of salmon, the fishy smells coming out through the rice to tantalize the nose. Then there was the yakitori, fire grilled just enough, made of chicken so tender and fresh it could almost have been eaten raw. Sesshoumaru unloaded the tray. The second it was empty the kitsune was back, still grinning, to take it away.

Sesshoumaru stood, and Sango moved back a little instinctively. He raised one hand up slowly and took a step closer, speaking in a soft voice as one might sooth a child.

"Sango, I don't plan to hurt you. Just let me help you sit up to eat!"

Sango relaxed a little, realizing that if he planned to kill her now she would be dead, and she most certainly could not sit up by herself. "Thank you, Sesshoumaru-sama." She replied, her voice so calmly not betraying her fear of this Demon who had rescued her.

The food refreshed her, brought her back. She was whole again. Sango hadn't realized just how hungry she had become, how long she had gone without eating until the first bite of that delicious food was in her mouth. Still, she ate slowly, carefully testing for poison at each bite as she had been trained, and not gulping it hungrily as she wished so much to do. She rolled the food in her mouth carefully, tasting each dish before eating, eating in small portions and slowly. She knew the consequences, and didn't want to spend the morning throwing up. Still, the food made her situation more clear in her mind. And it was hilarious. She began to giggle.

Sesshoumaru watched the careful way in which she ate. It was quite admirable how she tasted each morsel carefully before swallowing it. He knew there was no poison in the food, but still she put several questionable morsels aside, refusing to eat food that might be poisoned. She started to giggle. Strange… he thought, curiously.

"My lady Sango, if I may ask, what is it that you find so hilarious?"

She grinned.

"It's just… everyone in our village used to boast about being the one to kill you one day… but really, we were terrified."

He frowned at the first part of her statement, but relaxed at the second. Terrified, that was better.

"You were the story mothers told children to scare them. 'If you don't eat your vegetables, Sesshoumaru Of The West will get you…'" She laughed a little at this.

Sesshoumaru's frown deepened. He really wasn't the type to go on patrol for bad children to eat…

She giggled a little. "And look at me! Eating breakfast with the boogey-man!"

A few seconds later she added, "Who doesn't seem to be finding this even half as terribly funny as I am…" She broke off into hysterical laughter.

Sesshoumaru sighed. The girl was quite clearly insane. Well, a stomach wound would do that to a person… his fears were realized when he saw red blood seeping into the blue of her kimono. Sighing again, the proud lord of the western lands stepped forward to help an injured human… one who came from a village of humans who boasted to kill him… and he had not known of this. Disturbing. He did not like the insolence of plots to take his life, but one such plot by a village of humans was beyond insolence. Suddenly it clicked. This was not a new threat, but an old one. The girl was from the demon slayer village. The demon and the slayer… this prophecy did not intend to make his life easy at all…

The sun shone. She was out in the world, always had been. It was natural to wander, free, with her hiraikotsu strapped to her back. She paused for a second to point out a fox running across their path. He laughed, and it was the most beautiful sound… The day wore on, the sun seeming to fly through the sky too fast as darkness fell. He was tired now, so she stopped, setting up camp with a huge roaring fire. There were no enemies here, no need to hide. She was sick and tired of hiding by now… She pulled out her dinner from the packs she had unstrapped from their backs. The meat crackled over the fire, and she began to fell the hunger of a days hiking get to her. She smiled and turned to him… pain hit her from the back as his weapon swung behind her. His eyes were empty, not those of the boy she loved… She fell to the ground, the blood draining out of her. She couldn't live, couldn't heal. He would be with her forever. "Sango" a voice called from the sky. White hair… "Sango, wake up!" she drifted free of her body, free of the pain… "Sango…"

She awoke with a start, Sesshoumaru leaning over the bed.

"Sesshoumaru…" She said quietly.

"How are you…"

He smirked. "How am I what?

"God." She whispered, the aftereffects of her dream lingering. "You're god…"

Somehow, Sesshoumaru could barely manage to be shocked. Her voice was so quiet, strangely accepting, as she spoke such preposterous words. He said the only thing that he could think of to say, despite how silly he knew it would sound.

"Am not."

She woke fully and blushed. "I… I was dreaming…" she stammered, the spell broken. "Of course you aren't god, just a dream… a strange, strange dream…"

That was a relief. The girl hadn't snapped. The prophecies hadn't left him with an insane demon huntress. But what kind of dream had she been having? He decided to voice this question. "My lady, what sort of dream did you have that would leave you with such an idea?" He inquired delicately, trying not to pry or offend her, and wondering why he cared.

"Like I said, a strange one."

"But what sort of dream was it, if I may rephrase my question?"

"You did not rephrase it at all, my lord, but if you insist I will tell you. I died. He killed me again. All day it was as it was. We were happy. We wandered the woods, brother and sister. But he killed me. He betrayed me. He changed, and he hates me! And you called. It was your voice calling me into the skies as my soul left the restraints of my body. You said, "Wake up". "Sango, Wake up!" and I woke into the skies, and then back into this world. My lord, if I may make a suggestion, reduce the lightness of these beds, lest more innocents be disillusioned upon waking."

How dare she speak to him so informally! Finally he allowed himself to think what had been floating in his mind since she woke, almost a week ago. She was disrespectful, vain to an extent he had never witnessed before. One minute she was calling him god, the next minute she was making suggestions on the quality of his hospitality. It was almost too much. Yet he could muster no anger at her. Somehow, her cheek made all the sense in the world. It was right, somehow. And the more he thought on it, the more it proved true. She knew that he either had a very good reason not to kill her, in which case disrespect would most defiantly not get her killed, or she would be killed anyway, in which case disrespect would also make a total of absolutely no change in her future. She understood him better than he had thought she did, understood his opinion of humans, and in a way even his motives, or a simplified form of them. It irritated him. Humans weren't supposed to be smart. He felt comfortable in his prejudice, the same way humans felt comfortable in their beliefs that cows were beneath them. But then this girl came along. She was not how he pictured humans. she was too intelligent. She was smarter than some of his demon courtiers, though that was not saying much. She was smarter than most of them, which most definitely was. He was, to say the least, impressed. She was a person. A person trapped in a weak body that did not befit her. She deserved better, much much much better. He wished she were a demon. This whole thing would be much easier to handle if she were a demon… but ever stubborn, she did not change into one.

Sango watched him, wondering why he had made no response to her story. No, she should not have expected a response of any kind. It was silly of her, really. Silly to think that he would care about her silly dream even if he had taken enough interest to inquire. She was letting her guard down around him, letting it down too easily in the house of a kind seeming enemy. It was dangerous to think that he would care, to think anything about him other than how to avoid getting killed. She had to heal. It seemed that she would not be killed in her sleep, seeing as she had slept twice, for intervals of as long as several days, in his demonic presence and yet still lived. She was almost healed now. The wound on her back was scabbed over now, healing itself slowly but surely from the amount of rest she was getting. But she had been in bed so long that her muscles would have weakened, and the wound could open any time. She was not healed, not in top shape. She would have to spend a few more weeks in his company before she had to kill him. Growing to like him was the worst possible thing that could happen at the time, she thought. Better keep her distance, not get too close. He was to easy to talk to. Better limit that. She glanced up to see him sitting in his chair, framed by the afternoon sun, and for a second all she could think of was how much like an angel he looked.


	2. All The Lonely People

_**Icy Skies**_

Chapter 2: All the Lonely People

"_Do you happen to know any tips for bursting?"_

_Satsuki grinned. "A few… a few."_

Summary: There was nothing left for her, but she was rescued. And now she finds herself in a strange court where tradition is followed so exactly that it's hard to tell that it isn't believed, where the people harbor regrets and sorrows, secrets and promises, the past and the future. And so she will also find the cold lord of this well ordered chaos.

Disclaimer: Sesshoumaru smiled. He walked up close to the camera and leaned in, his eyes cold and dangerous. "This girl, own me?" he whispered in a cold voice. A fourteen year old girl looked from out behind him, big tears in her eyes. "But… but I bought you and Sango yesterday!" he sweat dropped. "Ummm… shut up."

Moral: I don't own Sesshoumaru and Sango.

The sky was that rare shade of almost deep blue that pulls your eyes upward constantly, completely uninterrupted by clouds. The garden, however, had managed to stay a beautiful shade of gentle green interlaced with a myriad of colored flowers filling up every corner. A stream flowed through a series of waterfalls and koi-laden pools, growing stronger quickly only to fall a roaring hundred feet into a pool, the center a whirlwind of falling water, rippling out to a gentle greenish color, crystal clear on its banks. A black feather gently drifted from the sky to rest at the very edge of the pond, joining various cherry blossoms already floating there. A deeply tanned hand with small, sharp claws reached down to retrieve it, causing ripples that spread out amongst the gently bobbing blossoms. The fifteen-year-old owner of the hand grimaced and pulled off the brass armband to which the feather had been attached. He sighed with annoyance and began to wind a leather cord around the feather, applying a small amount of glue to hold it together.

He was tall, with long legs and arms, yet somehow he moved with the quiet grace of a cat. It was easy to tell that he spent a great amount of time out of doors, because his entire body was tanned golden from the sun. He wore softened leather shorts and a shirt of the same material, equipped with many pockets. That part of his clothing was simple and useful, but he was not completely unadorned. His arms sported shiny, thick brass armbands, some adorned with black feathers such as the one he had just restored. His eyes were brown, but almost black in their depth, and his hair was the shade of the feathers that decorated the armbands and thick, falling to chin-length. The very same feathers covered the small black wings on his back, peeking out from slits sown into his shirt. He sat on a stone by the side of the pool, right under the tree that had produced the petals and blossoms on the lake. Winding the leather cord around the cord, behind the annoyance he looked at peace there by the pool.

"Ah-ren!" The voice of a girl of about the same age drifted into his calm a second before she appeared. Her hair was the color and texture of moonlight, flowing behind her loosely. She wore a summer kimono in dark, reddish purple with a white obi. Her eyes were a gentle shade of silver and she seemed to float on just a little moonlight. But though her appearance was like that of a goddess, if you looked at her expression of superiority she was just a spoiled kid. "Ah-ren! Where are you?" She called again.

The voice penetrated his silence, a silence surrounded by noise. Even through the sounds of the waterfall, her voice could easily be heard. There was no use hiding from her, no use pretending he hadn't heard. He knew her well, and this scene was part of his day-to-day life at the castle.

"What is it, Naachi?" He asked, unfolding his limbs into some semblance of order and holding his hands in the air. "No denying it, you caught me." The girl looked miffed.

"Show more respect!" She demanded, her teenage face showing annoyance. "I'm here on official business from lord Sesshoumaru! And how many times do I have to tell you, it's _Shukina-sama_ to you!" Ah-ren's face turned to seriousness and he looked more like a man than a boy who was all legs and smiles.

"Official business, eh, Naachi? Well I must say, that's new. What could have possibly been of such importance that Sesshoumaru-sama would send a message to _us?_" She grinned, happy in her victory, if not in the name part. But she hadn't given up just yet.

"Have you such a short memory? I just spoke to you on the proper usage of the name of a lady of the palace, were you not listening? Anyway, he not only sent us a message, he is summoning _us_ to the meeting room! As well as all other members of the family currently living in the palace!" The games and banter were over, and they both knew that. Ah-ren was impressed.

"What event could lead to such a meeting?" he asked, clearly awed by an unprecedented event of such significance. Shukina leaned closer, an exited look on her face.

"She is here. He says that he has found her."

"Who?"

"Only the girl of prophecy!"

His face had gone beyond shocked now, but there was one shock left.

"She's human."

Darkness had fallen instantly, covering the gardens in a sheet of bluish black. Lanterns along the paths lit as the dark arrived on its chariot of black horses with glowing eyes. The windows of the castle were lit from within like glowing ghosts, each showing a scene from everyday life in the castle crystal clear, without sound. The burbling of the stream and the roaring of the waterfall were underlying noise, with crickets almost seeming to be in the foreground for lack of other noise. Most of the windows showed quiet, an endless evening of small mindless tasks and gentle gossiping. But one window showed a stranger scene than the others, one more befitting the residence of a demon lord. People filled the room, beautiful people, all wearing black robes. At the center of the mob, looking very alone, was one confused looking girl in a blood red robe.

Candles flickered, the only light in the room. The room was in a mild state of chaos, everybody pouring in, moving about. Slowly, a long, snaking line filled the room. Soft sounds of bare feet on the ground replaced the noises of chatter, and the line advanced slowly in a sort of dance, moving up to Sango, who stood at the center in her red robe. One by one, the demons, the men and women in the room, filed past, bowing one by one to Sango, whispering quietly the same phrase each time, every one of them saying the phrase that they had learned as young children:

"We welcome our lady of blood."

"We welcome our lady of blood."

"We welcome our lady of blood"

"Welcome."

"Welcome."

As they passed, they repeated the same phrase in a whisper over and over again, until the huge room was an echo chamber of whispers. One lady passed that stayed in Sango's mind. Her eyes were unforgettable, mirrors of the soul as she looked up and whispered her welcome. But she was only one of the more memorable of many faces. Her guard was dropping with the endless ritual. It had been going on for an hour at least, but it felt like eternity. If she heard the phrase "We welcome our lady of blood." One more time, in one more calm voice, by one more black-robed figure, she would burst, she was sure. But there was still a long line of people to go. _Okay. _She thought. _Bursting it is!_

Just then, the calm of the ritual was broken, shattered into pieces. A blur dropped down from the arched ceiling of the huge room, repelling off the wall to drop silently behind Sango, holding her up by her throat.

"My lady, your guard is down." Said a voice from behind her, releasing her hold so Sango could breath, but keeping one hand on her at all times. She slid her hand over Sango's shoulders lightly, circling around to the front. She wasn't wearing the black robe of the others, but instead a striking and tight-fitting cotton outfit that covered her head, only showing a pair of startling green eyes. She was short and lithe, with a young, boyish body. It was only through her voice that Sango could even tell she was female. She pulled the mask off with a swipe of her hand. Out fell a neon pink rubber snake. a/n: there are many things from all times and countries in the castle, not just stuff from ancient Japan. This is intentional. There are many time traveling and teleporting demons, so the castle is a mix of the cultures of many times and countries, really rather interesting. There might even be stuff from further forward than current times. So this is intentional, not a mistake. She ducked her head and picked it up, smiling. Her hair was bright red, and cut at about chin length with layers. The color of her hair contrasted the intense greens in her eyes. They were demon eyes, darkish green but lit up from within, with slits for pupils. They seemed mocking, but in a friendly way. A pair of large, fox like ears adorned her head, fading from a red slightly browner than her hair to a dark black. Her hair grew right over the place where her human ears might have been, though it was clear that she did not have any. She grinned at Sango.

"While you were sitting here enjoying yourself," Sango winced at the use of the word enjoying. She had been bored to tears. The girl continued before she could disagree. "I have booby trapped your room, switched your medicines, and trapped you here." Sango looked up, worried. "Don't worry." The girl said. "I switched them back, and the booby traps will only get you rather wet…" she smiled. " also, I wouldn't eat the rice for dinner, I snuck past the cooks and set a little charm on it that should turn you into a duck for about five minutes. Seriously," she said. "You have to be more careful. What if I was an assassin?"

Sango grimaced, glad to finally get a word in. "You certainly sound like one." She said, not amused. The girl burst into laughter. She giggled, throwing her head back, completely ignoring the rules of etiquette. It was infectious, and Sango had her work cut out for her to keep joining in without even knowing what was so funny. Sesshoumaru stepped up to her side, and she looked up as the movement caught her eye. His face was stern, but behind it she could almost see him trying just as hard as she was not to laugh. The idea of Sesshoumaru laughing was such a strange one that she looked away for a second as she redoubled her efforts not to laugh. Silence echoed through the room as the laughter stopped and the girl looked sheepishly up at the lord of the western lands. He spoke quietly to her for a while, and she

Looked back up at Sango.

"My name is Satsuki Raya. This is my sister Satoki." She gestured behind her, and another girl stepped out. It was obvious that they were twins, but the second girl had none of her sister's inner fire. Her hair was grown to shoulder length, and raggedly cut, and though it was carefully clean, it had none of the shine that Satsuki's had. Her green eyes were dull and listless, not particularly looking at anything. She was very clean, scrubbed to red in some places as if someone else had worked to remove dirt long ingrained. Her black robe was carefully adjusted and had the marks of repeated smoothing, draping over her shoulders as if it represented her, plain, solemn, dull black. Though they were the same age, she looked younger, much younger.

Satoki looked up with her empty eyes, solemnly like a child. "Blood." She said, simply, like a prophecy.

Satsuki's grin faded to a look of long borne sorrow. She stepped halfway behind Satoki, draping her arm across her sister's shoulders protectively. She looked up at Sango, defensively, daring her to ask. Sango stayed silent. " What my sister meant was we welcome our lady of blood. I mean it too."

"Do you happen to know any tips for bursting?"

Satsuki grinned. "A few… a few."

"Everyone is so pretty here, moving around the castle like transparent butterflies…"

Sesshoumaru shifted in his seat and looked closer at her, just barely betraying his curiosity enough to let her continue. "Transparent?"

"Yeah. You can see right through them. They all designed their bodies; to a certain extent… their skin shows what they think beauty is, if you know how to look. I have been trained to look. Tell me, Sesshoumaru, why do you think that humans are so beautiful?" He looked up, the sleeves of his pure white kimono rustling. He felt a shock of anger at her words, but it was concealed quickly, his usual calm covering up all traces of emotion. His voice barely wavered when he spoke his reply.

"That is not my belief. Humans are frail, you included. They are pathetic. They blink their eyes and they die. They never learn, just keep reincarnating to make the same mistakes as the last time. They think they can learn from their own mistakes, thinking they can become wise, but the second you think that they might be getting anywhere, they die!" His mask was slipping; just a little, letting his real self through just a little, and making Sango smile inside. He had a weakness! Somehow, in some way he could be defeated, and she would escape! But even as she thought this, she glanced up at his face, listened to his voice, and knew that she could never use this scrap of insecurity, this tiny bit of trust against him.

"…Wise. They can't see even the simplest of truths. They wait, in utter ignorance, for something to happen. They have potential, but they never develop it! They never learn, never."

Sesshoumaru shut his mouth quickly, fading back into his mask instantly as if it had been there always. Though now he seemed calm, his mind was racing. Why had he let his guard down like that? He didn't even know her, and he was talking to her like his closest friend. Somehow, when she spoke to him, he relaxed. They were too similar. It was too easy to just sit and talk with her.

"Then why do you look so much like one? Why is your face so much like that of a human? Though you would never be mistaken for one, you are so human… sometimes I forget I am speaking with my enemy."

He stood up, and suddenly she was afraid. He was always cold. She knew that. But that was cold like newly fallen snow, soft, comfortable. It felt like warmth, almost. It tricked you into believing you were safe, but then turned out to have been the danger all along. But in that moment, as he rose out of his chair, he changed. All the layers of humanity were stripped away, and before her stood ice.

"I would counsel you not to be forgetful, Sango. I am not human. _I am not your friend._"

It was like a bucket of ice water was dumped over her head. Again with the cold. She had been getting too comfortable. It was good that he had reminded her of what he was. Good. Then what was that sting in the back of her heart? She pushed it to the back of her mind, forced herself to forget.

She smiled at him and spoke in a soft voice, filled with false assurance and just a hint of lime. "I remember. I almost forget, but I never will." He returned her smile.

"Good girl." He said, quietly and not completely void of menace. Sango got the feeling that she had somehow just avoided disaster. Then there was a crash.

"SATSUKI."

Sesshoumaru managed to speak the word like a shout without raising his voice or letting even a drop of anger show through. Nevertheless, he was shouting, in his chillingly calm voice. Sango could describe it in two words afterwards, though she would describe it in very different ones in the moment. At that moment she would have describe it with, perhaps, such words as "Ack" and "Help." But after it was over, sitting in her room and contemplating her day with more comprehensible thoughts, she would have used words more like "stern" and "terrifying." But that was after she had a chance to calm down. Though it makes a little sense why she was in a slight state of shock. It could, for instance, have something to do with the fact that Satsuki, sister and all, had just come charging through the window in a complex procedure involving glue, smoke bombs and a grappling hook. Or maybe it had something to do with the way Sesshoumaru was un-shouting… she decided to laugh the whole thing off. Which in her current state was a bad idea…

She gave a giggle and smiled. "Let her be, Sesh! She's just a kid!" Sesshoumaru turned on her. Oh well, it was a sucky existence anyway…

She felt a little drunk. Through a haze, she realized why…_ oh… Satsuki… and a smoke bomb… and alcohol… equals… umm… yeah… _She giggled again, looking up at Sesshoumaru. He was visibly sulking!

"Damn!" he muttered. "Stupid blood-girl…"

Sango huffed slightly, indignant. "I am _not _some stupid blood girl!" Sesshoumaru hiccupped.

"Then I should just kill you? Is that what you are saying?"

She stood up, trying her best to look menacing and ending up looking slightly wobbly. "Give it your best shot, demon-man!"

She learned a valuable lesson that day. The lesson was this: it is rather difficult to look menacing when you are out cold on the floor. Very difficult. Especially while drooling. But since she, and fortunately Sesshoumaru, didn't remember much after the smoke bomb went off, the lesson ended up useless.

Sesshoumaru picked her up and set her in a chair, sniggering to himself about the strange expression that crossed over her face. Then he too collapsed… when the smoke cleared there was a strange lack of Satsuki in the room.

Satsuki ran along the well-beaten path through the forest, adding her lighter-than-air footsteps to millenniums of previous ones. She knew this path by heart. She knew where she was going. It was her place to go, her place to disappear. She slowed her footsteps slightly to accommodate Satoki's slower walk. She just wanted to run, to release her worries to the wind and the ancient forest. She left the perfection of the palace grounds and carefully sculpted garden behind and slipped between the ancient trees, resealing the barrier behind her. She was at a walk right now, though she wanted nothing so much as too run.

It was unsafe to leave Satoki behind, to let her out of sight for even a minute. But she didn't mind babysitting her sister constantly, not much anyway. She missed her twin, the bright funny girl she had known all her life. That Satoki she would never have had to baby-sit. But it seemed that with all evidence to the contrary, she had been the stronger twin, the one able to resist the curse, resist Naraku on that night so long ago. Almost a year now, but it felt like a lifetime. She was running again, full speed. She knew she should slow down, she should wait. But she couldn't, couldn't stop. She turned around and ran back to her sister, scooping her up into her arms. Satoki snuggled in, unaware that anything was unusual. "Piggy-back!" she said happily. Satsuki shifted her into a more comfortable position, shocked at how light she was. It scared her to see her rambunctious twin like this, a daily reminder of Naraku's power.

She stopped when she reached the tree, glancing high up into its branches. A few squirrels taunted her, and gained complimentary facefulls of flubber. The squirrels were used to this treatment, however, and just scampered off. She glanced down the trunk, settling finally on the small hole at the base, nestled almost invisibly in the huge roots of the giant tree. She released Satoki and set her on the ground, nudging her gently towards the hole and then slipping in after. She landed in the small chamber, barely large enough for the two fairly short fox demons sitting down. She moved to the farthest corner of the bare hole in the dirt, with the smooth rounded walls, ceiling, and floor, and sat down with her knees drawn tight to her body as if she wanted to shrink into the dent in the wall that her back was against. She strained a handful of dirt gently through her fingers, letting the rocks fall out of her hand and onto the floor.

"All that time ago, before we ever met Naraku, we were really something, weren't we?" she said, so quietly it was almost a whisper. Her words faded into silence, absorbed by the walls and ancient wood of the tree above her. "I miss you, sister. I miss who you were, and I can't seem to adjust to what you are now…."

Satoki was piling the dirt in mountains all around her, and oblivious smile on her face as she bent over her work meticulously. "Dirt!" she exclaimed, just to make it clear to anyone listening exactly what was on her mind. Satsuki smiled softly at her.

"Sister, where did you go? Why is this child in your place? Back in the day, we could do anything we set our minds to. We could trick the most powerful of enemies into reciting "I am a flaragum" 100 times while dancing in a circle, we could make anyone's life living hell… we played the most delightful tricks. We were the best. We were almost feared. We were the epitome of all it meant to be a kitsune. We were to rule after our father. And now where are we? In the castle of our father's only ally. In the care of someone. A charity case, orphans. Sometimes I feel like I am half of a person. Without you, I am half as effective… I've been working solo for almost a year, and it is killing me! I have half a heart. My other half barely knows me. I'm so lonely, Satoki. I act just like normal, but I'm not…"

Satoki was writing her name in the dirt now, after carefully smoothing it with her hands to a state of utter perfection. She raised her claw over the smooth surface and brought it down gently, writing "Sa" is wavery child's script. "To" she added, and finally "Ki". She smiled and tapped Satsuki on the shoulder, showing off her work. Satsuki smiled. Sometimes, she could almost hope that Satoki's intelligence would come back. But when she thought about it, Satoki had been one of the smartest demons of her age. The ability to spell her name didn't even come close to that… the only way to restore her sister would be to kill Naraku or somehow get him to undo the curse. That was why she was staying with Sesshoumaru. If she had a hope, it was him. She huddled in the increasing damp of the cavern as it started to rain. Back at the castle, the rain would be beautiful, sparkling on the trees and flowers and covering the tall golden grasses of the fields. But here, outside of the castle barriers, it was just cold. And wet. And dismal. The sound drummed over the entrance of the burrow, seeping through the ground and slowly turning the ceiling to mud. It fell without resistance through the leafless branches of the old oak onto the ground, covering the world in water effortlessly. Satsuki looked up through the entrance at the drops hitting the ground.

"Sister, come back…."

She strained her ears, almost as if for an answer. But all she heard was the rain.


	3. The Hairbrush Of Doom

_**Icy Skies**_

Chapter Three: The Hairbrush Of Doom (or Thod.)

"_I'm Kagome. And the nudity, not my fault."_

"_Shanabe. And the nudity isn't my fault either… you know, you should probably try to get some clothes on Inuyasha before he wakes up. If he wakes up naked and with your scent in the bed, he's bound to be very embarrassed. Unless, perchance, the nudity was his fault?" Kagome blushed intensely._

"_Not in the least."_

Summary: There was nothing left for her, but she was rescued. And now she finds herself in a strange court where tradition is followed so exactly that it's hard to tell that it isn't believed, where the people harbor regrets and sorrows, secrets and promises, the past and the future. And so she will also find the cold lord of this well ordered chaos.

Disclaimer: Sesshoumaru stood meekly behind Rumiko Takahashi while the 14-year-old girl passed over the money. Rumiko Takahashi smiled and passed her Sesshoumaru and Sango's leashes. "Just don't tell the lawyers, okay?" She warned.

"Of course." The girl answered, and typed few words into her story, stroking Sesshy's fluffy thing absentmindedly.

I don't own Sesshoumaru or Sango, or Inuyasha, or Kagome, or Shippo, or Miroku, or Naraku, or anyone else in the Inuyasha storyline. Kagami, Shanabe, Satsuki, Satoki, Shukina, Kuichi and Ah-ren are mine, however. (You know, that sorta sounds strange now… I have a friend named Ahren, and I just learned that he spelled his name that way. I really hope that the characters don't converge now…)

The orange rotated in midair, spinning in space for a fraction of a second before falling back. The clawed hand of a silver haired demon reached out and snatched it from midair. He peeled the fruit carefully, slicing the exact depth of the skin and pulling it away, meticulously letting no drop of juice spill. He peeled away a single slice of the fruit and popped it in his mouth, turning his attention back to the two women sparring in front of him.

If a certain schoolgirl from the future had happened to be there at that moment, she would have said something along the lines of "Inuyasha, when did you cut your hair? And where did you get the modern clothing?" but Kagome was not there, and, incidentally, neither was Inuyasha. His twin brother Shanabe was, though. He was eating an orange. But I think you knew that.

Shanabe leaned back against the cool wall, his eyes trained on the fight between the girl of prophecy (or, incidentally, the lady of blood. but that sounded so ghost story-ish.) and his wife, Kagami. He had his bets on Kagami, though. And for good reason.

Sango blocked again, spinning off to the side to make her attack with the hand that wasn't currently occupied with blocking. She freed up her hand for just a second to brush a stray strand of hair from where it had stuck to the sweat on her forehead. The castle had some amazing innovation called air conditioning in almost every room. It cooled the air down beautifully. Unfortunately, it didn't happen to be installed in this particular training room, and all the better ones were currently occupied. She failed to land her blow, and landed on her ass instead. She cursed quietly and looked up. This was a mistake, as directly above her were a pair of the most beautiful eyes she had ever seen. They could almost be classified as deep violet, or silver, or black, but they reflected every color in the spectrum, showing a perfect picture of Sango herself in each one. But though the reflection she saw there was her, it was at the same time not her, but instead some gloriously beautiful woman with a few unidentifiable similarities. Light glowed from every pore, not illuminating the room or shedding light on anything else, or making the woman in the vision any harder to see. She just seemed to glow… But she wasn't Sango, because while Sango was looking up in awe, the woman smiled, and her smile went to the depths of Sango's soul… and without changing, the woman was Kagami. And Sango loved her. In that moment she would have died for the owner of the mirror eyes… then Kagami blinked, and Sango tore her eyes away, avoiding the older woman's gaze.

"Would you close your eyes?" She asked, flustered and annoyed.

"Well, how am I supposed to fight with my eyes closed? I couldn't very well do that now, could I?" Kagami replied, with a roll of her beautiful eyes that Sango for obvious reasons did not see. Shanabe noticed, though, being immune to her captivating gaze.

"Kagami, you know very well that you can fight just fine with your eyes closed! Now stop teasing the poor girl!" He admonished with a smile. Kagami really did deserve the playful nickname of 'Kami', which meant god. She often acted like one, except when it would have forced her to do things the hard way. But she really was mainly just teasing, and though often terribly infuriating, he also thought it was rather endearing… But then again, he would forgive a lot of things of Kagami. She _was _the love of his life of course.

But right now he wasn't looking at her. He had sparred with her every morning for an hour for the past 300 years, so he had her fighting style down pat. For instance, when Sango moved in behind Kagami to throw her, Shana knew exactly what Kagami would do next. "A_ha_! He muttered softly as his prediction came true, Kagami spinning in mid throw to face Sango and pushing on the pressure point just above her breasts. He knew that pressure point well, seeing as it had been used on him around 250 times at least. He knew that it would cause her to stagger back, unable to resist the small prod. It was a wonderful weapon against those enemies whose weakness was their pride, to be pushed back by a light push by the slim, weak looking demon woman. So, he had expected that move. But what he didn't expect was Sango's response. She used the momentum of the push for her own use, quite masterfully flipping backwards gently over Kagami's shoulders and kicking her in the back, sending her flying across the room, Sango holding onto her shoulders and following her more safely. When Kagami slammed into the wall, Sango let go and reaffirmed her grip.

"10… 9…8…" Shana counted, with new respect for Sango's skill. "7... 6… 5…" he continued, more incredulous at every number. "4…" this was impossible. "3… 2…" He saw Kagami struggling and spent a second to figure out the pin. It was ingenious, using one hand and one leg to make her unable to use any part of her body. "1!" He said, and Sango let Kagami up, smiling.

"I gotcha that time!" She said, grinning.

Sesshoumaru stood alone in his room, the book of prophecy in front of him, spread open on the page that Sango's prophecy was on. "All my life?" He whispered, reading the words that sealed his fate again. "And so shall come a woman of strength, and she shall be the savior, the lady of blood and tears. And The lord of the palace shall be her rescuer, and all the palace will trust her, for she is the girl of prophecy, and she shall unite the four warring lands under one rule, and as for her rescuer, the western lord, he shall be the lord over all demon lands, and the companion of the lady of blood for all his life." He didn't want a lifetime companion, not in the least, definitely not a human one. But Sesshoumaru was wise, and knew to trust the prophecies. The _Ashulate Mikaru_ books had ruled over him for most of his life, and he had finished his disastrous period of rebellion when he was much younger.

But why had he said those things to her yesterday? He was supposed to be earning her trust, not destroying it. He was supposed to be befriending her, not scaring her. He knew that he could never hurt her, for prophecy was not absolute. If it were absolute, then it the instructions wouldn't be there in the first place. He knew to follow the prophecy exactly, or else it could mean the destruction of his country, and all of the demon lands. And though he tried to not allow the weakness of caring, he cared about his birth land. He cared very much. So he would follow the rules, even if he had to apologize…

Sango squeaked indignantly as the covers, a nice goose down blanket from another time and country, were pulled quite rudely off of her. It was chilly out side this time of morning. At least Sango assumed it was technically morning, though she considered anything before dawn still night. She was used to getting up in the night, though, and could survive on only a few hours of sleep. Still, her favorite way to wake up was most certainly not but having the covers pulled off by Sesshoumaru while she was still rather embarrassingly close to naked. She snatched for the covers, but he held them just out of her reach, faint traces of a well though incompletely concealed grin on his face. He quickly rearranged his features into a look of cold indifference, which somehow made her a whole lot less embarrassed.

"Get up." He said. By his tone of voice Sango could tell it was not a request but an order. An order she was most definitely going to obey. She got up, moving over to the stack of neatly folded kimonos in the corner. Just as she was reaching for a lavender one with barely visible delicate silver wisps of smoke or something on it and her cool gray obi, She felt a hand on her shoulder and turned around. Well, it was more like Sesshoumaru turned her around to face him, but she preferred to think of it as her turning for her own reasons… nevertheless, she ended up facing him, her hand drawn away from the kimonos.

"What is it you want now?" She asked, slightly more rebelliously than she really thought was safe.

"Come." He said simply.

"Bu…" Sango started to complain as he dragged her bodily from the room, still wearing nothing more than the rather indecently thin sleeping kimono that she had found at the end of her bed. "Where?"

Sesshoumaru didn't change his even stride (just slightly faster than Sango could keep up with comfortably) or his calm expression. "We're getting married. Come on." He said as if were the most natural thing in the world.

Sango spluttered, but he wasn't releasing his grip, so she was forced to follow to a room full of women. At the head of them was a strange human girl with black hair and clothes that after three months at Sesshoumaru's palace she instantly recognized as futuristic. Her skirt was shorter than any that Sango had ever seen, and she had it paired very strangely with a long sleeved shirt as if it were winter for her top half and summer for her bottom. She had a hairbrush (Sango hated the idiot that had invented those torture devices) and a tube of something unfamiliar with strange lettering all over it and only a few recognizable hiragana and kanji. She was also wearing a slightly scary determined expression.

"Meet Kagome." Sesshoumaru said. Was that a look of fury she saw passing across the girls face? Hurray! Someone else who might not be completely devoted to Sesshoumaru! "She is a… friend… of my brother."

"Shanabe? Kuichi?" She asked, wondering if it was his Hanyou half brother of whom he spoke or his full blooded elder brother. It could have been either, she knew, since both of them were far more tolerant of humans than the middle brother.

"No. Inuyasha." He replied, before turning on his heel and striding out of the room a little more quickly than usual. Inuyasha? Sango wondered. She had never heard that name mentioned in the palace, though she saw a lot of Shanabe and his wife Kagami, and heard endless gossip about the eldest, who had gone quite scandalously to live in the society of humans. That alone would have been acceptable, almost, as there were a few humans like Sango herself who lived or worked in the palace. But Kuichi had gone in the guise of a _girl, _or so she had been often told in hushed whispers during her stay.

She turned her attention back to Kagome. "Who is Inuyasha? I haven't heard his name mentioned in the palace before." She asked.

Kagome grimaced. "Of course you haven't. Sesshoumaru hates him. He's half human."

Sango only became more perplexed at this. "But… There's another Hanyou in the palace, and Sesshoumaru doesn't hate him… and he doesn't hate… okay, well, he hates me… or so I thought…"

"Wait." Kagome said. "Sesshoumaru gets along with another Hanyou who lives here?"

"Yeah." Sango responded. "His half brother, Shanabe."

"Oh…" Kagome replied." _That _Hanyou…

"But who is Inuyasha? I have only ever heard mention of Shana and Kuichi!"

"Kuichi?"

"_Inuyasha, admit it! You were staring at Kagome-chan just now!" Came the piping voice of a very small kitsune who was very sure that he was right. Kagome ignored him, keeping the fight on the back burner of her mind in case she had to step in. _

"_I was _not_!" Inuyasha replied, swinging halfheartedly at the kitsune, who easily dodged. _

"_Leave Shippo alone." Kagome mumbled from her sleeping bag. The fire was lit up brightly, flickering and announcing their presence to the world, but Inuyasha had said that any danger in this area would have been able to smell them even without a fire, and if anything did attack it would be safer if they could see it. So now, in the relative post-dinner quiet, Kagome was beginning to doze despite the loud and piercing voices behind her. _

_Finally Inuyasha turned and looked over at Kagome, just now remembering that she was attempting to sleep. Quite kindly, he shushed Shippo, pointing to the dozing Kagome. Miroku sighed in relief, and got up, walking towards the fire to go to sleep. Eventually, after trying to curl up with Kagome (he had a slap mark from Kagome and a large and painful bump on the head from Inuyasha to show from this) he lay down, carefully catching Inuyasha's eye as he chose a spot across the fire from Kagome but near enough to the fire for warmth. The group quieted down as Shippo more successfully snuggled up to Kagome and Inuyasha settled in his customary tree. By the time a figure drifted silently through the woods they were all fast asleep. That's why Inuyasha didn't notice Sesshoumaru until he had been hit at a pressure point on the back of his neck and conked out. _

_Kagome had been dreaming of a woman who was her friend, who traveled with the group and was secretly in love with Miroku. She could never quite catch the woman's face, just a feeling of rightness in the fact that she was around. But even through her dream state she sensed a presence, and pulled herself awake. She blinked groggily and looked around, clearing the sleep out of her eyes. She was just barely awake enough to roll out of the way when Sesshoumaru fell gently out of the tree, carrying Inuyasha's body. _

_She opened her mouth to scream and wake Miroku and the woman… but just as she was reminding herself rather sadly that the woman wasn't real, just someone she had been having dreams about lately, a hand clamped over her mouth from behind. In the fraction of a second that it had taken her to open her mouth, Sesshoumaru had gotten behind her. A bit of dust floated down around her face and she fell asleep._

_Kagome woke convinced that she was home. The Sengoku Jidai simply did not have feather beds. It took her a moment to realize that neither did she. This realization pulled her fully awake to find she was indeed lying on a feather bed. Given another second she realized that so was Inuyasha… _I think Sesshoumaru got something wrong about our relationship…_ she thought, blushing. She slipped quietly out of the bed before Inuyasha could wake up and realize she had been there. Knowing him, he would get mad at her… _

_She wandered across the room, looking for another bed to switch to. The problem was that there was only one other bed in the room. And Miroku was in it. No way that was gonna happen… She strained her head to see if the woman was in that bed too. Now _that _would be a hilarious waking. Rather painful for Miroku most likely, though. She closed her eyes and opened them again slowly, reminding herself that the woman was a figment of her imagination. _

_At this point the door creaked and swung slowly open, and a foot entered through the opening in the door. It was followed by the rest of a body. Kagome turned around to look at the man who followed. The first thing she saw was a plain black tee shirt and a pair of faded jeans. The second thing she saw were a pair of impossibly familiar golden eyes… _

_Kagome did double take, shutting her eyes and opening them again. She seemed to be doing a lot of that lately. "Inuyasha, when did you cut your hair? And where did you get the modern clothing?" she asked squinting up at him. She looked back at the bed, noticing the odd fact that Inuyasha was still in it. "Umm… and where did you get the double?"_

"_I'm sorry to disappoint, but I'm not a double." Shanabe said, smiling warmly. Kagome couldn't help but blush. If only Inuyasha would smile at her that way… she pushed the thought away. Inuyasha was rude, crude, and thoroughly unpleasant. So what if she had been in love with him for over a year now. That wasn't her fault, was it?_

"_Then who _are_ you?" She asked, pulling herself out of her thoughts. _

"_His twin. But the question should be, who are you, random naked woman in my brother's room?" Kagome examined herself and found out that she was indeed embarrassingly naked. She snatched up something from behind her to cover herself. It turned out to be a beautiful blue-gray Kimono with black cranes on the surface. She turned the other way and wrapped it hurriedly around herself, picking up a coal black obi that lay beside the assortment. _

"_I'm Kagome. And the nudity, not my fault."_

"_Shanabe. And the nudity isn't my fault either… you know, you should probably try to get some clothes on Inuyasha before he wakes up. If he wakes up naked and with you're scent in the bed, he's bound to be very embarrassed. Unless, perchance, the nudity was his fault?" Kagome blushed intensely. _

"_Not in the least."_

_a/n: I will leave it up to you're imaginations what happens when Inuyasha wakes up…_

"Oww!"

Sango winced as the 'hairbrush' ran through her hair again. "Owowowowowowowowowwww!" The little lavender haired girl in the deep blue kimono didn't let up, though.

"Stop fussing!" insisted another lavender haired girl in a matching kimono to the first.

"It only makes it hurt more!" Admonished a third girl. These girls were Kagami's creations, mostly golem and illusion. The hairbrush was real enough, though, and even though Sango's hair was absolutely smooth and straight, it still got horribly tangled.

The girl ran the brush through her hair in one last futile attempt and tossed it aside. Kagome stepped forward with a bottle of something and picked up the fallen hairbrush, looking a little menacing, though Sango admitted that it might have just been her imagination.

"Kagome-chan?"

"Yeah?"

"What's that stuff?"

"Oh, this?" Kagome answered, smiling. "Just some detangler. I know how it feels to have that brush go through your hair…" Sango relaxed. She liked Kagome after all, she decided, as she felt the terror brush go through her hair with no resistance at all.

"Wow, Kagome-chan! It's like magic!" Kagome smiled.

"You know, Sango, sometimes you sound like a commercial…"

"A comma-whatty?"

"Never mind…"

Sango was happy. Happy was bad. Happy meant liking it here, and liking it here meant liking Sesshoumaru, and liking Sesshoumaru meant not killing Sesshoumaru, and not killing Sesshoumaru meant children who didn't eat their veggies, which meant an epidemic of vitamin deprived children in early graves. So she must not enjoy herself, for the children's sakes. Even if even she didn't understand that reasoning…

"Kagome-chan, do you like it here?"

Kagome looked down. "No. Not at all." She said quietly. Sango couldn't tell if she meant it or not.

Three hours later, Sango had decided never to be a bride again. "This dress is not made for human occupation!" She told the Utsuri and Kagome again, disregarding the fact that she had already said thin several times.

"I know!" Kagome agreed vehemently. "It was made to look good on hangers and people who look like hangers!"

"What's a hanger?" one of the Utsuri asked.

"Now, if you will just sit still, we'll make a hanger out of you yet!" another Utsuri said, rather bravely, despite not knowing what a hanger was either. Kagome giggled.

"Now, San-Tsuri, we don't want Sango-san to be a hanger!"

"A hanger is something you hang clothes on." I-Tsuri informed her sister.

"Oh…" San-Tsuri blushed a little in embarrassment.

"Why would someone make a dress for a hanger? That's just stupid." Nana-Tsuri remarked.

"Nana-Tsuri" Kagome said. "I could explain to you about Marketing and Advertising, but I don't really think you want to know…"

Sango had tuned out of the conversation. The dress seemed to have started to stretch with her body heat; either that or she had ripped a seam. Anyway, San-Tsuri had managed to pull the zipper (now those were cool. Sango needed something like that for her Taijiya uniform.) But zippers were made to zip up, and this one was not doing its job. Mainly because Sango had made the mistake of not being two dimensional. One dimensional would have suited the dress even better. Sango looked down at the dress. It was really quite beautiful. It was strapless, with non-attached sleeves that fitted around the middle of her upper arm and fell loosely to the tips of her fingers. The dress itself fitted tightly around her body until it reached her waist before sweeping gently around her hips into a skirt with waaay too much fabric in the back. Sango had been told that this was called a train, and I-Tsuri, Ni-Tsuri, San-Tsuri, and Yo-Tsuri would hold it up so she could walk. Go-Tsuri would hold rings, and Ro-Tsuri and Nana-Tsuri would throw flowers everywhere. Sango knew it must be futuristic. She had never seen a wedding like this before.

"I-Tsuchan, could you take over for me?" San-Tsuri asked sheepishly, motioning towards the zipper.

"Yep, here I come." I-Tsuri sighed. Every time something got difficult, her sisters turned to her… She went over to the zipper and tugged at it. it refused to budge.

"I don't even want to be married! Do I really have to do the dress?" Sango protested.

"Yes." Kagome and Ni-Tsuri replied in unison.

"I got it."

Everyone but Sango, who couldn't move, whirled around to face the little girl.

"WHAT DID YOU SAY?"

"I. Got. The. Zipper." I-Tsuri said, poker faced.

"Oh… um… yay. I can't breathe." Sango mumbled."

"Aaand, on to makeup! Kagome grinned."

Sango would have sighed. She really would have. She just couldn't.

a/n: San means three, so what Kagome means is something like Utsuri three. There are 7 Utsuri, in order they are: I-Tsuri, Ni-Tsuri, San-Tsuri, Yo-Tsuri, Go-Tsuri, Ro-Tsuri, and Nana-Tsuri.

a/n: I-Tsuchan is just a nickname for I-Tsuri. Similar things may be done with the other Utsuri.


	4. Unreality

_**Icy Skies**_

Chapter Four: Unreality

"_I'm his brother, Kuichi. And Inuyasha is most definitely real, last time I checked. Look Miss…" he smiled warmly at her. "Do you need a hug?"_

Summary: There was nothing left for her, but she was rescued. And now she finds herself in a strange court where tradition is followed so exactly that it's hard to tell that it isn't believed, where the people harbor regrets and sorrows, secrets and promises, the past and the future. And so she will also find the cold lord of this well ordered chaos.

Disclaimer: They filled her house, pouring in like water from every doorway and window. They moved silently, looking out of place as they stormed into the girl's bedroom. They grabbed her by the arms, dragging her out of the house while she was still in her PJs.

"Look girl." The lawyers started, but they were interrupted by her piercing screams.

"Put-me-down-right-NOW!" she screamed. They kept walking, holding her against her struggles.

"Say it." One of the lawyers requested coldly.

"No." She responded, determined.

"Say it!" the lawyer repeated, coming towards her with outstretched fingers, threatening the poor girl with tickling.

"N- oh, fine!" She said, slumping a little. "I don't own any of the characters from the TV show or manga Inuyasha. These belong to Rumiko Takahashi and I am not making any profit from this fic." She said. A second later she added somewhat triumphantly. "I do, however, own plushies of both Inuyasha and Sesshoumaru, as well as lots of volumes of the manga and a couple posters!

A/N: I have nothing against lawyers. I have a good friend who is a lawyer. These disclaimers are purely comedy.

_**Two are made one, separated by the speed of thought. Too far, too near, the prophecy's completion underway, the two will triumph through many things. He will try his best to love her, she will try her best not to love him, and in a game of death, two players will enter, but one to return.**_

_**The Akulate Mikaru, Marriage prophecy. **_

She was dead on her feet. They had been standing before the strangely clad old man with the huge book for over an hour, unmoving. Sesshoumaru, however, seemed fine. He stood there, unmoving and with a studied expression of calm covering his thoughts like a heavy wool blanket. Sango wondered idly if it itched at all. Wool blankets tended to do that. She suppressed a yawn. She hadn't even _wanted_ to get married! She shot Sesshoumaru an 'I told you so' glare, and tried to focus on the words the old man was saying. They seemed to be in a foreign language.

"Dar hen tsemiru tekcha nen…"

She stored the words away in her memory. She would ask Sesshoumaru about them later. She winced and told herself that she wouldn't. Starting another friendly conversation would only cause her to have more trouble killing him…

She heard a mumbling from Sesshoumaru, turning her eyes, though not her head to face him. "Did you say something?" She asked, making sure that no one in the room could here her. Not that there were many people in the room. It was a small wedding, with only the Utsuri, Kagome, Inuyasha, Miroku, Shippo, Kagami, and Shanabe even present. Still, it did no harm to be cautious; the old priest might be insulted to know that she wasn't listening.

"I said feel free to take a lover." Sesshoumaru replied, in equally careful tones.

"Oh…" Sango replied. That was not at all what she had been expecting. Of course, when she woke up this morning she had not expected that she would be marrying a demon who she planned to kill just a few hours later.

"Understand" he continued, "that this is not a marriage of love, simply of state. I am marrying you to fulfill the prophecy, so I believe that you still deserve to fall in love freely with whomever you choose. You are, according to the prophecy, to help me greatly in a matter of some importance, with little or no benefit to yourself. You deserve better, but for the sake of my people I have no choice."

She couldn't help but blush just a little. I mean he was so nice… She frowned. That was the disturbing thing. Why was he so kind to her if he truly hated humans? And if he didn't hate humans, why did he hate his brother, Inuyasha?

Kagome had told her all about her new husband during the makeup session. Apparently, Sesshoumaru was cruel, unreasonable and prejudiced. He was cold hearted and evil, and had come very close to killing Inuyasha several times.

Sango sighed. He was so confusing… one minute he was kind and interesting, if a little standoffish, and the next he was evil, right down to his very soul! There had to be a reason for one of the behaviors, and somewhere in her heart Sango had to admit to just a little wish that that explained away one was his evil side… the evidence, however, did not point that way. And as she trained and grew stronger; the day was approaching when she would be ready to fight him…to the death.

The one thing interrupted her musings that after a day like hers could still shock her.

Sesshoumaru kissed her.

"I now pronounce you husband and wife."

…

_Kagome still couldn't see the woman's face. She was smiling, though. Strangely, no matter how hard she tried; she could never quite remember when she woke just what they had been talking about. She smiled back. It was so good to have another girl in the group. Miroku was so perverted, and there was so much tension between her and Inuyasha, that it was nice to have someone she could just relax around. A friend, like the ones she had in the future… but they were far away, separated by time, and now a whole lot of distance too. That was the one thing she hated most about traveling with the group. She couldn't always just go home…_

_The woman turned to her, and suddenly she could see the face. It was as clear as day, though it would not stick in her memory. Her face seemed somehow more real than the rest of the surroundings._

"_I'm not real."_

_Miroku turned to her._

"_You're dreaming."_

_Shippo turned to face her, his childlike features deadly serious. _

"_I don't exist."_

_She looked at Inuyasha in despair. "No… not you…"_

"_It's only a nightmare. Wake up."_

_She tried not to leave him, but he was fading into the background._

"_No! Kagome! Don't wake from me! Don't leave me!"_

_But it was too late…_

Kagome opened her eyes. She was crying, scanning the room for her friends through tear-blurred eyes. How could he just be a dream? She loved him… he had to be real. She wiped her tears and scanned the room again.

She gasped, her eyes fixing on the sight that she had longing to see. Her eyes teared up again, this time out of joy. She ran and embraced the tall man in the flowered kimono.

"Inuyasha! Thank god you're real!"

Wait… flowered kimono? She looked up again at the person she had been embracing. The golden eyes staring down at her were almost familiar. But this wasn't him. It wasn't Inuyasha.

"Umm… Miss?" The stranger said, quietly. "Not that I'm not flattered and all, but… I'm not Inuyasha."

"Oh." Said Kagome, in a small voice. "Then, his sister? Inuyasha never told me he had sister… but of course, he never told me he wasn't real, either…"

"Umm… no." the stranger responded. "I'm his brother, Kuichi. And Inuyasha is most definitely real, last time I checked. Look Miss…" he smiled warmly at her. "Do you need a hug?" He sat down on her bed, which she had finally gotten separated from Inuyasha's. She even had her own room now. "I don't usually give hugs to girls, but you looked like you needed one." He said kindly

"Oh." Looked over him again, realizing that he was indeed male. The only thing that had really confused her was the _very_ feminine kimono he was wearing. She didn't ask as she took in his features. His face still wore the purple stripes that were a sign of his alertness. She had learned from Inuyasha full demons in his family had these facial markings, which only disappeared when they felt safe. Apparently this brother didn't feel completely at ease, but then again she was a stranger. A stranger who he was offering a hug… The stripes faded. She knew that he felt safer now, for he had less control over his facial stripes than she did over the inevitable blush that crept up her cheeks…

…

"…And two players will enter, but one to return… isn't that just the _most_ romantic thing you have ever heard, Ah-ren-chan?"

"Go 'way, Naachi" Grumbled the black haired boy barely visible under too many feather comforters in the oversized bed. "I have the flu, I don't need a headache, too."

Shukina sat on the edge of the huge white bed, her legs dangling off the edge, but her face turned towards the 15 year old boy in the middle of it. She smiled and bounced a little, knowing that the movement would annoy him. "But Ah-ren dear, you're suffering!" she said, putting on a pretty good worried face.

"Yes." He answered, annoyed. "That's why I want you _gone_." He turned his face away, trying to ignore her and sleep, but her voice cut into his consciousness again.

"And you think I would miss you in pain, Ah-ren?" She giggled a little. "Not for all the world!" she smiled and turned back to him, climbing up on the bed and looking across him to make eye contact with his turned away face.

He grumbled, turning his face back into it's original position despite what parts of her body she might have placed in that line of vision. Still, she noticed, and moved away. He told himself very convincingly that this was good. "That's just like you, Naachi." He grumped.

"What?" She asked sincerely confused.

"Thinking a prophecy is romantic when it involves either Sango-sama or Sesshoumaru-sama dying! And all the evidence points to the dead one being Sango-sama, too! I thought you liked her…" He frowned at her, only really managing to look even sicker. The truth was, she felt a little sorry for him. But she would never admit it. It just wasn't in the nature of things. Plus, he was such an idiot… she took his last comment as proof of this.

"You are such an idiot, Ah-chan." She said. Shukina had never been one to keep her thoughts in her head. "Did you even _hear_ the first line?" She asked, grinning a little at his one-track mind. "Two will be made one, separated by the speed of thought." She quoted for his convenience, as well as to make another jab at him… "And the line I quoted earlier, two players will enter, but one to return! Do you see now? Romantic, neh?" She grinned in victory, tilting her head in a gesture that said 'I'm the best."

"Yeah, well, go think about romantic prophecies in your own room. I have a headache." He growled a little, which isn't something that raven spirits tend to do. "Far, far away." He added for emphasis."

…

"I love you, Sesshoumaru." Sango said, trying the foreign words out on her tongue. "No! No no nonononononononononononono! I can't do this, just can't!" She yelled out, startling Kagome, who was sitting in a chair next to her.

"But you were doing so well!" Kagome responded, leaning forward in her earnestness. "Just try again! You can do it, Sango, you really can!"

"But… but… no way!" She answered firmly. "I can't, and I won't! I absolutely won't! I don't love him, I hate him! I hate him and I have to and I absolutely must!" She exclaimed, her faced flushed in what might have been anger, but it was hard to tell… Kagome smiled placatingly.

"I will demonstrate. I will profess my love to any guy you can name, and then you say that you love your husband. Simple, neh?" Sango smiled weakly, trying to make the best of this. If she must, then she would prove Kagome wrong… the perfect idea entered into her mind… Kagome would never…

"Okay, then, Kagome-chan. If you can say that you love Kuichi-kun, then I will say I love Sesshoumaru. That simple." She grinned, certain that she had won, and true to her expectations, Kagome blushed. She had seen the way that Kuichi treated Kagome at breakfast… and most of all she had seen the way that Kagome had reacted… She restrained a giggle at _Inuyasha's _reaction to all of this… She knew it was most definitely not love, just a little crush and mild flirtation. She also knew that Kagome knew this, and would have a harder time saying that she loved him then saying such things about a hated enemy or a total stranger. So she wasn't expecting what happened next.

"Okay, Sango-chan. I'll do it." Kagome said. "I… I love you, Kuichi!" She said, blushing deep red. "So ha! Now you, Sango!" Sango's heart sunk. She couldn't, just couldn't say those words, but she had accepted the challenge, and there was no turning back.

"I love you, Sesshoumaru." She said, slowly, forcing every syllable out of her throat as if it were choking her.

"Is that so, Lady Sango?" A calm voice came from behind her, and she spun around to face the demon lord standing in the door. "I had no idea that you felt that way!" He said, taking a step into the room.

"Sesshoumaru?" Sango asked, mortified.

"I… I was just leaving, I guess…" Kagome said, slipping out of the room to find the annoyed hanyou that she had gone to Sango's chambers to escape. Suddenly Inuyasha's anger seemed like a more pleasant prospect than remaining in that room and being frozen.

"So, Sango." Sesshoumaru said, breaking the awkward silence. "There was something you wanted to tell me? Now, out with it."

"It was nothing, my lord." She said, bowing her head to hide her blush. Sesshoumaru took a few strides and picked her up bridal style, walking her to a chair and setting her down.

"Now Sango. There is no need for such formalities! We are married, had you forgotten?" Sango grimaced.

"I would rather not think on that unhappy subject, my lord. And I shall call you what I wish." She said, with all the cold formality she could muster. It was nothing to Sesshoumaru's, however. No one could be colder than her unwilling husband. Her unwilling husband that she most certainly did not love. Most certainly did not.

"You shall, shall you?" Sesshoumaru asked, not quite certain why he was even challenging her on this subject. It would have been so much more reasonable to have let it drop… but the way he was around Sango, he kept on getting into these meaningless arguments. It was horribly annoying.

"Yes, my lord, I shall." She said, defiant. It was too late to drop it and keep his dignity, Sesshoumaru decided.

"Call me what you wish, then, Sango-sama. But be prepared, for there may be… consequences." He said, not even sure what they would be. He couldn't hurt her without destroying any chance he had of getting her to save his people. And first and foremost they were what mattered here. His people were all that mattered.

"I am sure that I can deal, Sesshoumaru. I am absolutely certain." He grinned, and she blushed in embarrassment, realizing her mistake.

"See?" He said, smirking softly. "That's a good girl. Really, that was all I wanted…" His smirk grew as her eyes darkened in anger.

"My lord?' She said, dangerously soft. A mere mortal would have had good reason to be afraid. Sesshoumaru had no such reason, but somehow he was… But he did a good job of masking it.

"Yes, Sango?" He said, equally softly, though it was a lot more menacing coming from the ancient demon lord than from the young woman in the fancy kimono. Still, she was unimpressed.

"I would prefer that you exit my chambers." She said, adding a quiet "please" for good measure.

She really was a little intimidating. He would never admit that, so he just left, silently.

…

Down in the grand entrance, things were a mess. Banners and people hung everywhere, along with the occasional Satsuki. All of the candles were unlit, prepared to go on at the snap of the fire master's fingers, and light the huge room to its normal glory. But for now there was just a feeling of many demons, lurking in the shadows, preparing to leap… well, to leap out of hiding and shout, "SURPRISE!" The reason for this was that Kagami was coming home. For a few weeks, she had been gone on scout duties, a task that all demons did periodically. And now she would be back… Any minute now…

The demons were tired of waiting. The shadows were getting cramped, and they weren't happy about this. And it does make it tougher to hide in the shadows when they keep _kicking _you…

"Stay still or get out!" one of the shadows grumbled at the crouched dog demon huddled in it. "Young people have no respect these days. Stay _still, _I said!"

But mostly they just waited for whatever news she would bring.

…

Sesshoumaru sat in the library's biggest leather chair, relaxing in the comforting book dust. He glanced at the ancient book that was causing all of his problems. "Dar hen tsemiru tekcha nen… _Dar hen tsemiru tekcha nen…"_ He sighed. What did it mean, what did it all mean? "Two will enter, but one to return." He whispered, and sent up a cloud of dust.

…

"I had another of those dreams."

This had been the first thing Kagome said when she entered the room. Inuyasha had been so angry, so ready to shout at her. He had paced a worn spot into the fancy rug in his chambers, fuming and planning what he would say to the girl just the second she poked her pretty little head through his door…

But when she said those words his blood froze. His anger fled, and worry came quickly to replace it. He looked at Kagome, and was surprised at how small she looked. As the dreams had gotten stronger, it had been a gradual change, so small that he hadn't even noticed, but suddenly she came into focus and the change was horribly apparent. It wasn't that she had shrunk much in size. Kagome had never been tall, always delicate and small boned. It was more that her aura had changed. She seemed almost as if she had shrunken into herself.

It seemed only yesterday that she had been his bright, vivacious, walk-on-thin-ice around her Kagome. But when the dreams had started she changed. She seemed wistful, as if grieving for a world that wasn't real. Come to think of it, the dreams had started that day at Naraku's castle. Of course, it wasn't Naraku's then. When Kagome had heard the story of the demon slayer woman who had been nearly killed, and then rescued by a regal demon man, Kagome's eyes had glazed over as if she was remembering something. He had tapped her lightly to snap her out of it, and she had smiled weakly in a way that sent the hairs on the back of his neck standing up. "Just déjà vu, that's all!" She had said. But the smile never reached her eyes.

That night she had the first dream. She was only mildly disoriented by it, so he just chalked it up to her miko powers reacting to her surroundings. Then, a month later, in a completely different place, she had the dream again. And then another one and another one… slowly, part of her had seemed to go into the dream world. She seemed to fade out little by little with every dream. Soon, they were coming once a week, each time more disorienting. She would wake up and not know where she was, once for almost a minute. But it stopped at that level, not getting much worse, and after a while it was more a constant gnawing than a source of life destroying worry.

But that all changed the second she had arrived at Sesshoumaru's palace. The dreams changed. They started coming every night. It would take Kagome hours to get back to normal, and the amnesia would last much longer, as much as five minutes. Just yesterday she had been convinced that this imaginary woman existed for almost half an hour before she shook it off.

But when Inuyasha saw her face he knew that this time it was worse. Much worse.

"In the dream, she told me that she wasn't real." He frowned.

"Well, she isn't, is she?" He saw a confused, worried look cross Kagome's face, and he wanted to go over and touch her, to tell her that it was all right. But he stood aloof.

"I… I don't think she is…" She said, uncertainly. "But… but Miroku… and Shippo… they said they weren't real either, and then… and then you…" a teardrop formed in the corner of her eye, and he gave in and wrapped his arms around her, shocked at how delicate she felt, how easily he could feel her bones through her skin. He gazed into her slightly wavy black hair for a second, winding a tendril around his fingers angrily as if to force the life back into it, but then let it fall again, still dull and slightly oily.

"It's alright Kagome." He whispered, almost a chant. "It's gonna be alright. I'm here, I'm real, I exist and I'm not going anywhere!" He sat there, rocking her gently until she stopped shaking so much.

"I was looking for you, but I couldn't find you, and then I saw golden eyes… all blurry through tears, golden eyes and white hair, and I was… and… and then it wasn't you at all, and your sister was a guy…." She sobbed a little, and he patted her comfortingly on the back, rubbing the folds of the kimono against her back. This one was the color of sunshine, reflecting golden light into her face and making her look slightly less pale. But from this close he could tell that behind the tan she had gotten from traveling constantly she was pale, too pale.

"That must have been a strange dream." He said, as gently as he could. He wasn't used to this. She looked up at him earnestly, gray-blue eyes meeting gold.

"No, that part was real!" He couldn't help but grin just a little.

"Ah, Kuichi."

…

Wet mud flew up and hit her luminous eyes, adding to the sweat and grass stains already gathered there. She blinked and winced a bit and closed her eyes but kept running. If there was one thing that mattered more to her than her eyes and her pride, it was her people. And they were in danger, more than they realized.

She slipped and fell hard into a mud puddle; her simple black cotton outfit becoming further caked with mud. She got up and rubbed her ankle, continuing on. This matter more than a minor injury like a twisted ankle, and Kagami had gotten very good at ignoring pain. If she lost the leg it would take months to re-grow. If she lost the palace, if she lost Shanabe… It would be too much. She found the portal, and slipped from the mud filled rainy forest to a pleasant, warm night. She smiled up at the starry sky and kept going. This was her home. This was what she was protecting.

At the sound of footsteps the waiting demons tensed in anticipation, and the banner-bedecked room went abruptly silent. The door creaked gently open and a mud covered foot poked through the opening. The candles leapt into flame, lighting the room with a pleasant golden flickering glow.

"Supri-" it took about half a word for the massed demons to see her expression and fall silent.

"Get Sesshoumaru-sama. Now." Her voice was so serious it could have frozen fire. A startled page broke away from the group and walked fast but dignified to the demon lord's rooms. Turning back briefly he heard her speaking to the crowd of worried demons. "The palace is at war." He turned back from the candle-lit room and broke into a dead run.

A/N: To Inuyasha. To Kagome it had felt like a strong thwack, just at the edge of not permanently damaging.


	5. Warriors Song

Icy Skies

Chapter 5: Warrior's Song

"_Kagami 'round here anywhere?" He asked, just when the silence began to wear thin._

"_Yeah, in the shower." She answered._

"_Ooh!" He grinned boyishly. "Squeaky clean! I can't wait!"_

Summary: There was nothing left for her, but she was rescued. And now she finds herself in a strange court where tradition is followed so exactly that it's hard to tell that it isn't believed, where the people harbor regrets and sorrows, secrets and promises, the past and the future. And so she will also find the cold lord of this well ordered chaos.

Disclaimer: I don't own Inuyasha… yet.

And the lord of the castle shall awaken, and shall enter the kitchen. And there he will find a cup, and inside the cup will be coffee. The lord shall then drink this beverage…

_**The Akulate Mikaru, breakfast, the fifth day of the second month of the year prophecy.**_

_**When the rivers fill with bodies, and the crops are watered with blood, when turmoil racks the land and the very barriers of life are threatened, then shall it be known that the great war has come, the great war to end the ages and unite the people under one rule. Under his rule, he who saves his people. He who owns this book. The lord of the western lands. **_

_**The Akulate Mikaru, war prophecy.**_

Sango stumbled through the door to Kagami's room and fell onto the bed, her head still spinning. She sighed, and buried her face in a feathered pillow. She heard the shower start up from inside the bathroom where Kagami had escaped to wash the mud off the second Sesshoumaru had heard the details of her story. She had offered Sango her room, and Sango was grateful. She rolled over, laying back in a more comfortable position. Kagami's beautifully elaborate room was a welcome sanctuary to her after the turmoil of the rest of the castle.

The palace's main common rooms above them were still awhirl with busyness. The war was here! The war that had been prophesized, anticipated, and breathlessly awaited. This might be it. Sango sighed, happy to be out of the fray. Who was even attacking them, and why? Didn't anyone care? Whoever they were, they were already fast becoming the hated enemy. And Sesshoumaru had…

The muffled click of the door rang loudly in the silence, and Sango looked up, raising the top half of her body off the bed in time to see Shanabe walk in the door and softly shut it behind him. "Shana." She said tiredly.

"Oh!" Hey, Sango." He replied softly. He seemed to sense her headache and wish for quiet. "You came here for some peace and quiet, huh?" He was silent for a minute, but it was a comfortable kind of silence. Whenever he was around, she always felt like she had known Shanabe forever. "Kagami 'round here anywhere?" He asked, just when the silence began to wear thin.

"Yeah, in the shower." She answered.

"Ooh!" He grinned boyishly. "Squeaky clean! I can't wait!" Sango smiled. With her messed up creepy loveless marriage, it was nice to hang around Kagami and Shanabe. They so obviously loved each other, and would for all eternity, most likely.

They sat in silence for a moment. The shower continued running, the background noise making the silence comfortable, rather than tense. She sat back against the pillows, relaxing into the room. She could still hear the chaos above, but this place was a pool of calm in the midst of the craziness.

Unfortunately, her thoughts could not stay long away from the events of just a few hours ago, when Sesshoumaru had… She had run into him right after a meeting with the war council. She hadn't intended to meet up with him, but she had. She had intended to head to her own room, and get some rest, but despite her wishes, she had met up with her husband. And he had… Sesshoumaru had… grinned. It wasn't a smirk, a corner of the lip upraised. It wasn't icy, or cold in any way at all. Instead, his grin had blazed, and his eyes lit up in a manner she wouldn't have thought possible. He look inhuman in a way that his cold, unnatached behavior never made him look. He looked… animal. He looked excited, and bloodthirsty… and far from sane.

"Your turn soon, lady of blood!" He had growled, sending a chill down Sango's spine. She had turned and run, not for her quarters, but for Kagami's. Hopefully, he wouldn't find her there so easily. Hopefully, he wouldn't expect her here.

She sighed, and drove the thought out of her mind. She sat back for a minute and calmed herself down yet again. The memory wasn't quite as agitating as the real thing. After a while, another thought took its place. This one, she decided, was okay to ask Shanabe about. She didn't think that she could bear to talk about what had happened with Sesshoumaru, though it was likely Shana could explain.

"So, who are we fighting, anyway?" She found that her headache was fading. The steam from the shower seeped through crack in the door, making the room comfortably warm, and Sango knew that Shanabe's presence was probably the only thing keeping her awake.

"The wolf demons. Kouga's clan." His voice pulled her back from the edge of sleep, and she blinked in surprise. She had almost forgotten her original question.

"Kouga's people?" She frowned in confusion, the name clicking into place. "But aren't they known to be relatively peaceful? An annoyance, a nomadic tribe that raids towns of humans, murders and kills, and we're always dealing with them, but they aren't known to make war on other demon tribes!" Shana nodded at her very accurate description of the tribe.

"Yeah. But Kouga himself is a naturally jealous man. And he's in love with Kagome-sama. Sesshoumaru-dono had to kidnap Inu-baka's group to get the idiots here, so now Kouga's decided that she's in danger, and he has to rescue her. In reality, the marriage made, she would have been heading soon any day now. But now the whole group's stuck. It's for the best, anyway."

"For the best?" Sango asked, confused.

"You've noticed… Kagome?" He asked, and Sango nodded.

"Something's wrong with her." She said, sighing.

"I think that if our physicians have time to look her over, then her mind, her soul might be salvageable. But she's not going to get better on her own. She's getting worse." Sango shook her head.

"But now she's trapped in this castle. I'm sure that Kagome-chan will be fine with having a doctor help her!" She said, trying her best not to sound too hopeful. It really was a last resort. Matters of the mind were a rather uncertain thing.

"Yeah…" Sighed Shana. "But…"

"But?"

"But Inuyasha's not going to like it. He won't want to admit anything's wrong." Sango nodded.

…

"A war?" Kagome asked, and Inuyasha nodded.

"It's that ass-faced excuse for a wolf, Kouga. He thinks Sesshoumaru's kidnapped you."

"Well, didn't he?" She asked, and a smile came to Inuyasha's lips unbidden. It was strange; usually the mention of his brother's name would have made him angrier. But somehow, the way she stated that fact, so clearly, so innocently, a little stupidly, but no stupider than she always was, sent relief flooding through him. Her hair might be dull and greasy, her eyes might be listless, but Kagome was still in there.

"Yeah, he did." He replied, bringing his mind back to the topic at hand. "But the irony of the situation is that if Kouga hadn't attacked, then we would have been leaving in a few days. Now we're trapped in a palace under attack."

"This doesn't feel like a palace under attack, though. I mean, everyone is excited, not scared. We're bustling, but there aren't any… attacks."

Inuyasha nodded, glad that for now she was making perfect sense. "They haven't breached the outer defenses yet. They're still in the outer world, but it's only a matter of time until they get in."

"What do you mean, outer world?" She asked, and he realized that this time he wasn't making sense, not her. She had been brought in to the castle drugged and fast asleep, so of course she wouldn't know.

"This castle lies in a separate dimension, a world of its own. It links to our world by a single grain of sand lying on a vast beach. It takes a special kind of spell to detect it, and it will take Kouga's people a little while to figure it out." Kagome blinked.

"Kouga's people? But… they've all been killed! Kouga has no tribe!" Kagome said, and Inuyasha sat up straight.

"What do you mean? Who's attacking us, if it isn't Kouga's people?" He asked, and Kagome shook her head, her eyes unfocused, and pain in her gaze.

"I must have dreamed it…"

…

Kouga was pacing back and forth, throughout the wolf demon encampment. "A warriors heart should be ever calm before the storm, Kouga." His father would have admonished, but he couldn't focus on his father's admittedly excellent advice. What was going through his head at that moment was Kagome? Where was she? Was she all right? He kept picturing her, locked up in a cell somewhere. She was standing tall, a flush to her cheeks, banging at the bars, demanding to be released.

Occupied by his thoughts, it took Kouga a moment to notice the commotion in the camp. He turned to see what was going on, wondering why his people were shouting and mulling about. At first he couldn't tell what was going on, but then, as the people shifted and rearranged themselves, he was able to catch a glimpse of the cause for the commotion. Moments later, she had broken through.

She was obviously dog demon. It was obvious enough, to look at her. She had a mass of curling golden hair, not blonde, but actually metallic gold, and purple eyes, golden dog-ears surfacing over the mass of curls. She was walking through the camp, acting as if none of his wolf demons were there. She had a regal bearing, very demonic. It seemed to Kouga as if every single higher demon had a sense that they knew for a fact that they were much better than everyone else. But this girl, holding her head up high, had a presence to match the most highly placed of demons in any court in the world.

His subjects were drawing back now, holding back their grabs and attacks. It was strange to be attacking this girl who showed no reactions. She didn't even seem to notice they were there. She just walked straight through the camp, her eyes aimed past them all. They drew back, forming a tunnel of curiosity around her and her regal bearing.

Kouga reached out, trying to break the spell, and grabbed her arm. She stopped, and turned her violet gaze on him. Despite her warm, unthreatening appearance, her gaze could freeze the molten metal that blacksmiths worked with. It was something about dog demons, Kouga thought. That power they had of freezing their emotions like that.

"What do you intend?" he managed, though not nearly in the threatening tone he had planned.

"Your destruction." She said, pulling her arm out of his grasp so cleanly that he hardly noticed that she had gotten free. She moved on, past the last of his people, muttered something, and disappeared into what looked like a pocket. For a second, he caught a glimpse of a dark but not foreboding stone castle surrounded by bright, beautiful gardens. The flag flown was purple, showing a fang and a crown. Kouga cursed softly. If he had followed her, or at least paid closer attention, he might have gotten from this intruder the secret he had tried so hard to obtain. The access code to Sesshoumaru's palace.

He sighed, and turned back to face his people. "Think!" He demanded of them. "Be Sesshoumaru. What word means defense to you?" They just stared at him for a while, and then got to work.

…

Kuichi was, for once, in guys' clothes, and he would have been even if he were a girl. A multilayered feminine kimono, though it did offer many more choices as far as personal style went, was very impractical for his task. He was to fight in the war, defend the castle if Kouga's people made it through the barrier. But before that, he had a more important task to perform. Calming his little brother down before he killed someone.

Kuichi giggled a little at that. Usually, when he said that, he meant Inuyasha. But this time, Inuyasha was sober and calm; looking after that interesting little priestess he kept around. The brother that needed calming this time was Sesshoumaru. Kuichi sighed. This would be difficult. His brother wasn't reasonable. Sesshoumaru had been taken over by another, completely different corner of himself.

He was war crazed, he was bloodthirsty, and he was dangerous. Kuichi steeled himself for the task and set off for the frontline, which is where he knew Sesshoumaru would be.

…

"We're at war. Get yourselves in shape, and now." Sesshoumaru growled, his eyes glowing red. The lines of demons nodded in unison, saluting smartly. The rustle of the fabric of their uniforms as they bent their elbows sounded all at once, causing a sound not unlike a roar to resound through the gardens, only to be swallowed into illusionary, infinite distance.

"I know that most of you believe Kouga's tribe to be weaklings. I know that you think the wolf demons inferior. Well, they are. So where we're headed is going to be a slaughterhouse. I, for one, am looking forward to it." He grinned, and saw the entire assembly of demons and spirits waver. He smirked at them, Stripes blazing purple against pale skin, eyes flickering like a raging fire.

Most of the army had never seen their lord like this before. Gone were the golden eyes, the calm, cool demeanor. Gone was every trace of humanity that Sesshoumaru had ever possessed.

"Dismissed. Go and prepare." He said, and growled a little as they all hurried out of his presence, a few even breaking into a run. Such weaklings would be fine in this battle… but the battles to come? Weak. They were all weak, and useless. His skin prickled as he sensed his brother coming up behind him, traveling against the flow of demons.

Now, Inuyasha he would have been happy to see. Someone needed to scare the shit out of that bastard. No gaze could perturb Shanabe, so he would be useless to have around. But he, at least, would be content to leave Sesshoumaru be. Not the brother coming up behind him, though. His older brother, the one that, had he wanted it, could have snatched the whole inheritance from under Sesshoumaru's feet. But he had chosen not to. Shanabe was happy enough in married life, and feared what Kagami would be like as a queen. Inuyasha, though his father's favorite, was still such a child… he was easy enough to dupe into feeling useless. But Kuichi, the true legal heir, had chosen to give up the castle and go to live among humans. The humans that he loved more than anyone else. He would protect them to his death. That was, Sesshoumaru knew, the only reason that he was here and a part of this war. It was because of the humans. They, too, would be killed if Kouga won. Everyone knew what the lower wolf pack did to human villages.

…

"Sesshoumaru." Kuichi said, and Sesshoumaru turned. "Little brother, what are you doing? Calm yourself!" He insisted, calmly watching Sesshoumaru growl his frustration to the world. "Get yourself under control. This is insane. This is not you. You're embarrassing me." Sesshoumaru took a step forward, and Kuichi sighed, knowing that no words would calm his little brother now. He needed to do battle now, and he needed to lose. He needed to realize that, battle crazed as he was, he wouldn't be winning any wars.

"That's right, youngling." Kuichi whispered, taunting his brother with a childhood nickname, taken from the day when a panic stricken Sesshoumaru had demanded that Kuichi teach him to fight, so he could beat his younger brother's natural grace and instinct.

At four, Inuyasha was already showing signs of being a great fighter someday. He was impulsive, but he was dangerous. His instincts were spot on. He had no control, but he had power, strength… Sesshoumaru knew that if Inuyasha started training in martial arts he would become immensely powerful. And Sesshoumaru's place on the throne of the western lands would be gone forever.

"Leave this place, Inuyasha. You're not wanted here. Leave and never come back."

Inuyasha had once had a name… a name that his mother had given to him. A name that wasn't a taunt. But ever since that day, he had been only Inuyasha. A sign that he would forever be an outcast.

Sesshoumaru growled. "You'll never beat me, Sesshoumaru. You have no instinct, no natural fighting talent. It's all training… this is as strong as you will ever be. And Inuyasha is swiftly surpassing you. He's getting training. He'll pick up everything it took me years to teach you so easily… He'll be far more powerful than you could be. And half of him is human…" Kuichi whispered. It was enough. Sesshoumaru sprang.

Kuichi turned and blocked, reveling in the freedom of male dress. He may have seemed a scandal, a feminine royal demon, but none realized that it was all an act. Sure, he did like the female clothing well enough, but that wasn't the point. Outside of important battles, he had vowed to spend the rest of his life struggling through the disability of female clothing. If you could fight in a multilayered kimono with a train and geta sandals, you could fight in anything. And everything else… everything else was easy.

He turned, knowing exactly how his brother fought. Every single move Sesshoumaru knew, and likely every move that he ever would know Kuichi had taught him. Such an uncreative student would never surpass his teacher. As expected, Sesshoumaru was behind him, quiet as a cat. He started, not expecting Kuichi to have noticed him. The move was well executed, but no use when the opponent was expecting it.

"Little brother…" Kuichi laughed, launching himself over Sesshoumaru's head in a flying leap. He could have had Sesshoumaru on the ground by now, but the point wasn't to win. It was to tire Sesshoumaru to the point of collapse.

Sesshoumaru twisted around. Forgetting the elegance that pervaded his style of fighting, he rushed after Kuichi at full speed. No one was watching. Anyone who dared would probably become an outcast, or be sworn into silence. There were always battles going on in the gardens. No one had to know that this one was between the lord of the castle and his cross dressing older brother.

Kuichi had leapt into the upper branches of one of the many blossoming cherry trees that were a staple in the garden this time of year. He sat there, winking at his brother tauntingly, as Sesshoumaru brought out his energy whip, flicking the rope of electricity at him. Kuichi was already out of the tree by the time in burst into flames.

"It was a perfectly good cherry tree, youngling." Kuichi sighed, lifting his hand up to catch a flaming cherry blossom, and closing his hand around it, opening it again, unscorched, to let the ashes drift out. Kuichi definitely had the Japanese sense of aesthetics.

"You… are… infuriating!" Sesshoumaru growled, and it was on…

…

Sango's headache was almost gone. So were Kagami and Shanabe, having left a while ago to help with preparations for the war. Sango sighed, considering that she should probably go help, too. I mean, it was supposed to be her job to help them win this war, though she really had no idea how she was supposed to do that. But there was a prophecy to contend with, however, and prophecies tended to get annoyed when they were ignored. This much, Sango had learned from Kagami's descriptions of the Akulate Mikaru. It seemed to be a very strange book.

She sat up, smoothing the covers on Kagami's bed, determined not to be a problem for her friend. The problem was that she really didn't want to go out there. She didn't want to run into Sesshoumaru again. She stood, looking out the window. It didn't really seem like a war zone. Everything was peaceful as always, except there were people running all about, training in large groups, testing equipment and spells in every open spot of grass as far as the eye could see. It must have been the enchantment of the castle grounds that made this scene look like a calm spring day.

Sango smiled a little, looking over the scene. They seemed so happy to finally be at war, and it reminded her of her village. Everyone headed out into battle, excited and scared, some resigned and some unable to keep still, pacing, training… She saw two young demons she had met a few times before, Shukina and Ah-ren, walking under the trees, apparently arguing.

A discord broke out, sending what looked like a ripple from Sango's vantage point out through the crowds. In the center of the commotion strode a girl, shapely and golden haired. She walked in an unnatural way, smoothly but with no movement of her hips, as if she disdained a more feminine style of movement. Even from where Sango stood at the third floor window, from where the girl looked like a tiny stick figure, she seemed self-important. The crowd was parting for her, as she went up to the castle door, and let herself in.

Sango was surprised that no butler had come to help this new arrival. Wasn't she expected? It took Sango a moment to realize that no one should have been able to arrive at the castle. It was a war zone outside the bubble, no one could get in, and no one out. So how had this girl arrived? Sango walked to the door, leaving the room to find someone who could explain to her, or, if all else failed, the girl herself.

As it turned out, it was the mystery girl who found Sango, on the stairs by the great hall.

"Hello." Sango said, and bowed politely.

"Hello." The girl replied, though, looking closer, Sango realized that she was no girl at all, but a full-grown woman. Her back stayed straight, her head unbowed, and blue eyes of the most striking, foreign color gazed directly into Sango's own, burning like blue fire. At last, Sango was forced to look down, unable to bear that gaze any longer. "My name is Kuen Llyris." She said, in a strange accent that Sango couldn't place. It was strange, since Sango prided herself on her knowledge of demon dialects.

"I'm Sango." Sango said, and Kuen's ears twitched and flattened back on her head, though she showed no other outward reaction.

"The imposter." She growled, and Sango blinked, confused.

"Imposter?" She asked, and Kuen glared at her, sending her eyes into new heights of cold fire.

"The false lady of blood. The imposter. I know your secret, and it is I who am the true girl of prophecy, and Sesshoumaru's rightful wife!" She said, the longest sentence Sango had heard her utter so far. Sango stopped abruptly in her descent of the stairs. She had never considered that she might not be the real girl of prophecy, that Sesshoumaru might have gotten it wrong.

Perhaps… she thought, Perhaps this woman knows how to end the war, to unite the tribes… to do all that is expected of the girl of prophecy. Perhaps she can fulfill the post. Perhaps it was never meant for me at all… She smiled at the thought. She could leave when the war ended, go home… Her smile fell away, and a sudden fear struck her. She was a human in castle of demons, a Taijiya in the stronghold of the enemy. Her status as the girl of prophecy was all that kept her alive. And if it had never been her at all… She wasn't ready yet, but as she was, she would have to fight Sesshoumaru now. And she would have to win.

But… that smile…


End file.
